


i'm just around the corner

by annejumps



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Adult Eddie Kaspbrak, Adult Richie Tozier, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Eddie Kaspbrak is a Mess, Hugs, M/M, Soft Richie Tozier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23482315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annejumps/pseuds/annejumps
Summary: “So, uh,” the man, Eddie, says. “I’m uh, like I said, I just got divorced and I moved here by myself and I don’t know anybody and I realized the, the lack of interaction outside of work was kind of making me a little… I don’t want to say ‘crazy,’ but I realized it was kind of… messing me up, and you can’t exactly hug your coworkers, so.” As he talks, he gestures a little frantically, in line with how fast he’s talking, and his defensive tone. “I just, this is not something I would normally do, but desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess, and I just, I figured I’d try it—”“Hey man,” Richie says, in a reassuring tone, waving a hand, with the other in his pocket—he found clients kind of preferred it if he started out with his hands in his jacket pockets, like he wasn’t going to suddenly start hugging them—“Don’t worry about it, it’s fine. It’s what I’m paid to do, I see all kinds of people. It’s really fine. Touch starvation is a thing, it’s real. Studies have shown.”
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 15
Kudos: 194





	i'm just around the corner

Richie’s always been a really good hugger, or so he’s been told; it’s the long arms, maybe. And he was free with them as a kid, happy to touch a friend and comfort them when they needed it. 

That said, when he’s just trying to get started in comedy and working most nights as a bartender, when he hears about the concept of people getting paid for hugs, he’s decided he’s found what could be a pretty decent day job. 

His first clients are mainly the elderly, most of them widows or widowers, and it’s so sad Richie finds himself picking things up for them at the store that they need before he comes over, or sandwiches and whatever, and bringing them flowers. No charge, since getting paid to hug people already feels like a scam. 

He starts getting regulars, even referrals. There’s a young widow, but Richie’s gay so it’s not weird. She cries most times and Richie just absorbs her weeping against his shoulder, letting her tears soak his jacket. She apologizes every time and hands him Kleenex to dab himself off. 

Although it’s somewhat unlike him, or at least how most of his friends think of him, he’s silent a lot of the time during the appointments, if he feels like that’s what the client wants. But sometimes they clearly are desperate for interaction and he’ll happily carry on a conversation with them. 

All that said, he maintains a professional distance, strange as it is. He’s got boundaries, and he remembers he’s being a sort of therapist—not unlike a bartender, really, or even, in some ways, a comedian—and acts accordingly.

His friend Bev asks him if it’s ever at all weird, like, you know, _weird_ weird. Richie tells her no, it's all platonic, these are just sadsacks who need hugs. They don’t hit on him, and “I'm not creepy about it, Bev, I'm not an animal.”

His new client today is a man, who from his profile is 40 and newly divorced from his wife. Okay, a straight guy. That might be a little weird, but Richie’s sure if he can handle hecklers and drunk people, he can handle a straight guy being weird about the man he hired to hug him.

Right from the start, the man’s energy is really interesting. He opens the door quickly and his gaze darts around to make sure no one else is in the hallway; he hustles Richie in almost like he wants to make sure no one sees him, like Richie was hired for something else besides just hugging him. 

His eyes are big and dark, and he’s got sleek dark hair. He’s a few inches shorter than Richie, trim, and… cute. Okay, a cute straight guy. What else is new. Richie can handle this. 

Closing the door, the man turns to him and launches into what Richie assumes is an explanation of why he hired Richie.

“So, uh,” the man, Eddie, says. “I’m uh, like I said, I just got divorced and I moved here by myself and I don’t know anybody and I realized the, the lack of interaction outside of work was kind of making me a little… I don’t want to say ‘crazy,’ but I realized it was kind of… messing me up, and you can’t exactly hug your coworkers, so.” As he talks, he gestures a little frantically, in line with how fast he’s talking, and his defensive tone. “I just, this is not something I would normally do, but desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess, and I just, I figured I’d try it—”

“Hey man,” Richie says, in a reassuring tone, waving a hand, with the other in his pocket—he found clients kind of preferred it if he started out with his hands in his jacket pockets, like he wasn’t going to suddenly start hugging them—“Don’t worry about it, it’s fine. It’s what I’m paid to do, I see all kinds of people. It’s really fine. Touch starvation is a thing, it’s real. Studies have shown.”

Eddie seems almost to light up a little, his shoulders going down a bit. “Yeah, it is real.”

“So, yeah, it’s fine.” 

They both fall silent. It’s always weird, yeah, at the start of a session with a new client. Come on, yeah, it’s strange being in the home of a stranger with the express purpose of hugging them because they’re paying you. But Richie knows by now that just getting the weirdness over with means that you’re quickly on to just… letting them enjoy the hug. Which is why he’s there.

Eddie’s ears go a little pink, a flush staining his cheeks. “Do you want something to drink, water or something?” he asks, hurriedly.

“Uh, sure, I could go for some water,” Richie says. His mouth _is_ a little dry.

Eddie goes to the kitchen to get him some water, and Richie can’t help watching him go. Yeah, he’s cute. He’s really cute. Hey, whatever, Richie thinks as he takes the glass with a “Thanks.”

“You can sit down,” Eddie says.

“I mean, I don’t have to,” Richie says, sensing that Eddie’s nervous. Setting the glass down on the coffee table, he shrugs. “I can just, you know, hug you. It’s up to you, man, but for a lot of people they just like to go ahead and hug pretty early on, you know? Kinda breaks up the tension.”

Eddie nods, his expression serious and kind of worried. “All right, yeah… okay. So just go ahead and…. Oh, I’ll….” Eddie suddenly steps into Richie’s space; Richie, not expecting it, had started to step forward as well, and they gently collide, awkwardly. Richie’s arms go around him almost automatically, and after freezing for a moment, Eddie relaxes into the hold. Richie’s arms tighten around him a little, and he shifts, getting himself more comfortable. _Slotting against me_ , Richie thinks, imagining puzzle pieces fitting nicely together. After a few moments, Eddie puts his arms around Richie in turn, his hold tentative at first, and gradually more secure. 

Yeah, it’s always weird hugging a stranger for the first time; frankly, it can still be a little weird even after you’ve visited a client a few times. This, somehow, despite the somewhat heightened awkwardness at the start, is not weird. It in fact feels almost familiar. Richie tells himself it’s because their heights mean they fit nicely together and thus it feels good, that’s all.

He finds himself tempted to stand here a long time, just hugging Eddie like this. It really seems like something he could do. But he knows in a little bit it’ll start to be weird. He takes note of Eddie’s body language: right now he’s still nicely relaxed against him, but in a little bit he’s probably going to start stiffening up in preparation for pulling away because it’s been long enough. 

Okay, maybe this guy really is very touch-starved after a divorce and a move, because he doesn’t seem ready to pull away yet.

Richie finally has to be the one to draw back, and he looks at Eddie’s face as he does. Eddie looks nice and calm for the first time since Richie came in, kind of sleepy-eyed with a slack mouth, almost like he’d been dozing in Richie’s embrace. It squeezes Richie’s heart a little. Maybe Eddie has some kind of stressful job, too. He tries to remember what it said on his profile, but evidently it was too boring to remember.

“You good?” Richie asks.

Eddie blinks, and nods. “Yeah, I’m good. That was… that was nice, thank you.”

Richie salutes. “It’s m’job, man.” Eddie, looking thoughtful, nods.

A week and several clients later, Richie’s next appointment with Eddie goes just about the same, almost. Eddie is more relaxed, but he offers him water first and still seems kind of nervous. Richie wonders if Eddie ever relaxes much, or maybe this is just his reaction to a near-stranger being in his space. He must really need the touch factor if he’s so naturally nervous and retiring. 

The hug is the same, so that uncanny ease and comfort wasn’t a fluke, most likely. They just really fit together nicely. Yeah, a lot of this hugging business has benefits for Richie too, in its way; it’s nice to hug or be hugged, whichever, so it does help him. He likes the feeling of Eddie’s cheek against his neck, Eddie’s arms around him even though he doesn’t hold Richie as tightly as Richie holds him. It makes sense that he wouldn’t, and it’s fine.

The third time, a week later, it’s already kind of a little routine: nervous greeting, offer of water, lovely hug, awkward departure. Richie finds himself looking forward to his appointments with Eddie more than with other clients. He still brings them things like drugstore goods and flowers; they probably need them more than Eddie, who seems fairly well-to-do, and besides, he doesn’t really know what Eddie would like, and he’s not sure if with Eddie it would be weird.

The fourth time, when he opens the door Eddie’s brow is drawn and his mouth is a thin line of displeasure. He opens with “Sorry, I’m kind of… grumpy, today.”

Richie stifles a laugh, because that’s adorable. “That’s okay, man. I can try and help out with that.” 

They skip the water, that time. Richie just draws him in and wraps his arms around him, and almost literally feels the tension drain from him. They stand a little longer than usual that way. Richie thinks about that off and on over the next week, the way he could pull away and absorb that tension. Take it from him.

The fifth time, Eddie’s upset about something that happened at work, and there’s something about his ex-wife doing something; right off the bat after the door closes he’s ranting about it all. Forgetting about the water, Richie pulls him in again and wraps around him, tight. Eddie keeps ranting, but the heat dissipates from it, gradually. Eddie’s railing about someone’s incompetence, and he’s actually cursing and quite creatively, and Richie realizes his dick has taken an interest in having a good-looking shorter dark-eyed man up against him yelling. He always did have a type. 

Damn. This is no good, because that can’t happen here. Even storing something like this for his spank bank doesn’t seem right, since this is his job, well, one of his jobs; plus Eddie was married to a woman, so Richie needs to put up some boundaries for himself right now and stop his mind going down that path. He just keeps holding Eddie, trying not to think about how much he’d like circumstances to be different. 

The sixth appointment, Eddie’s not grumpy or ranting. He offers Richie water, and they hug, and Eddie has his arms more tightly around him this time, which is nice. Eddie’s pretty quiet, this time. But the silence isn’t really weird anymore, and Richie remembers hearing somewhere that you knew you had a friend when you could just be in silence with them. Well, Eddie’s a client, not really his friend, but it’s a nice sentiment. He looks forward to seeing him again.

Eddie cancels the seventh appointment.

Richie would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little concerned. He says to Bev, “Do you think it’s something I did?” and she tilts her head at him. 

“Like what?” she asks. 

“I don’t know!”

Richie hopes Eddie will reschedule; he’s even tempted to call him, see if he’s okay, but that seems like it might be overstepping. Eddie is a capable adult, and there are people who really do need a look-in from someone like Richie who can bring them food, and that type of shit, and he needs to focus on them. 

Maybe Eddie is just over his issues (although Richie kind of doubts that). Job well done, then. Maybe.

He does have an appointment in Eddie’s building, on another floor, over two weeks after the cancelled appointment would have taken place. He hopes he’ll see Eddie in the lobby, or the elevator, or something. He doesn’t—but then he leaves the building and sees him at the corner, waiting to cross the street.

“Eddie,” he calls, almost before he realizes he’s doing it. Eddie looks up, startled, and waits for him rather than crossing with the light. He thinks he sees a bit of tension falling from Eddie’s shoulders, or maybe that’s wishful thinking. “Hey,” Richie says, “saw you cancelled our last appointment. Hope you’re okay.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I mean, don’t want to be all in your business or anything.” Eddie’s big eyes look somber, and Richie’s afraid maybe there really is some bad news.

“I just….” Eddie presses his lips together for a moment, considering. “Can we talk in there?” He gestures toward the corner coffee shop. 

“Sure, man,” Richie says. “Whatever you want.”

They get a tiny table in the corner. Richie’s wild with curiosity and anxiety, wondering if he did something wrong and if so what it was. He retrieves their orders, and when he sits, Eddie takes his with a little nod. 

“What’s up, what’s going on?” Richie finally has to ask.

Eddie sighs. “You’re probably wondering why I canceled.”

“Yeah.”

Looking down at his coffee, Eddie says, “I was starting to feel like… like I was taking advantage of you.”

“What? It’s my job to hug people, man. It bleeds over into something like a therapy session a lot for a lot of people, it’s fine. It happens. No need to feel bad.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Eddie says. He looks thoughtful. “Maybe ‘taking advantage’ isn’t the term I want. It’s just…. Richie, I divorced my wife because I’m gay.”

Richie blinks. “No shit.”

“And I just felt, like….” Eddie’s cheeks take on a faint flush. “I was… attracted to you, and I was… paying you to come over and listen to me and hug me, and it just didn’t feel right. You were only seeing me in the first place because I was paying you for that, and if you were gay it would be—”

“I _am_ gay,” Richie interjects hurriedly. “I am gay, actually.”

“Oh.” Eddie’s eyes get even bigger, somehow. This new information seems to have completely derailed Eddie’s train of thought, because he doesn’t continue.

“Did I not seem gay?” Richie wonders aloud. “Anyway, I thought you were straight, because—wife, so I kept, uh, telling myself I shouldn’t be interested in you because you wouldn’t be interested and plus you were just paying for hugs and an open ear so it would be weird.”

“But you were interested in me, though?” Eddie’s ears are going pink again, his brow raised.

Richie nods, and rests his chin in his hand. God, the man is just so fucking cute.

“Well, now that I’ve canceled, if I’m not a client of yours anymore, would you… still be interested? If I asked you out?” Eddie looks down at his coffee for a moment and then up at Richie through his lashes, and Richie is a goner.

“Uh yeah, yeah I would be,” Richie says, nodding. “Definitely.”

“So… dinner? Saturday?” 

“Yeah. Yes.” Richie blinks at him, and Eddie actually smiles, a real smile for the first time that Richie’s seen, and he’s got serious dimples hiding in those stern long lines in his face.

“Free hugs, then?” Eddie asks, a twinkle in his eye now.

“Free hugs and whatever else you want, Eds,” Richie responds, the nickname coming to him easily. He winks. 

Now he finally has a reason to bring Eddie flowers.

**Author's Note:**

> Stemming from a discussion with my dear friend [lizifer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizifer/pseuds/lizifer)! Title courtesy Fleetwood Mac.


End file.
